When We Became Us
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day seven hundred and seventy-seven: With Tina's birthday coming, so does their very first anniversary...


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 36th cycle. Now cycle 37!_

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><p><em>AN: I know it's JUST barely after midnight over here, but I have a final_  
><em>early tomorrow, already up later than I should, so... yeah ;)<em>  
><em>AN2: As far as the time stamps, it's still in line with the present of_  
><em>this series, not canon ;)<em>

**"When We Became Us"  
>15yo MikeTina  
>Chang Squared #14 (Following 'Why do we hide?')<strong>

_One year ago_

The last of the guests had just left her birthday party, aunts, uncles, cousins, all wishing her a happy fourteenth once again. They were all gone, but there was still one more person here, a… very last minute addition, most certainly not expected… She turned back and there was Mike Chang, standing just outside the living room, looking at pictures on the wall, from over the years. He seemed particularly amused by the one from her first day of school, standing outside the house all proud with her brand new school bag.

"Nice pigtails," he commented when she came to stand next to him. She laughed, almost feeling flushed.

"I think I had t-them every day for a y-year."

"Yeah, I remember," he nodded. This caught her by surprise; if he remembered then he'd paid attention?

"You d-do? But we're n-not in the same grade, you…"

"Didn't mean I was blind, or that you were invisible," he looked at her, smiling. She didn't know what came out of her then, a laugh or a squeak… Just to be safe she looked away for a moment.

"D-do you need my f-father to drive you h-home?" she asked, to have something to say, and just implying that he should have to leave made her sad.

"Oh, well, I..." He looked back to the wall. "What's… this one?" he pointed to another picture. She looked at him, observed him, he… What was he doing? There was something in his eyes, but… what was it, what… If it could have, her heart would have smacked her upside the head.

He didn't want to leave… He wanted to stay? He wanted to stay!

"H-hey, do y-you… want to watch a m-movie?"

X

_Today_

She opened her eyes, the sun shining in from the window, and she took a breath and remembered… Today was her birthday… She was fifteen now. She was fifteen, and… she was going to be late!

She sprang out of bed, went to shower, get dressed, greet her parents who would wish her happy birthday, and she made it outside just as Mike arrived, and she smiled, and he smiled, and maybe her estimation that her previous birthday couldn't be topped had been a gross miscalculation.

"Happy birthday," he told her as he got up to her, and they kissed.

"Thanks," she breathed.

"Ready?" he asked, and she nodded.

He would come to her party later, of course – her cousins insisted – but they had decided that as boyfriend and girlfriend they deserved some time on their own, just them. So he was taking her to breakfast, once he'd promised her that he would not divulge her 'birthday girl' status anywhere that would lead a group of waiters to sing her an off-key birthday song. The code word for 'birthday' would be 'recital,' even if by the end of the day they couldn't say the word anymore without having the urge to burst out laughing.

They got to the restaurant, orange juice was served, then pancakes for her, waffles for him, fruit for both. "You know what I was thinking about last night?" she asked, as he passed her his pieces of strawberry while she passed him the melons.

"'Breakfast with boyfriend tomorrow morning, awesome?'" he joked, and she laughed.

"Besides that," she sat up. "No, I was thinking… If it's my… recital, then it's been one year, exactly one year since my last… recital, and that's when we first kind of started off, I guess," she explained. "So it's kind of an anniversary then, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" he declared, smiling, after he'd thought about it.

"But then is that… the anniversary? Or is that when we went on a date the first time?"

"If you ask me…" She nodded. "It's a year, today, you and I," he declared, reaching for her hand, and she couldn't stop smiling. "Guess it's a good thing we're in a mall then… I can go shopping."

"You don't need to get me anything," she shook her head. "This is perfect, and you'll be at the party…"

"What if I buy a couple DVDs for tonight, after the party… like last year?" She wasn't sure if there was such a thing as something make you smile if you were already smiling, but she was there now.

"Tough bargain," she shook her head with a smirk.

The rest of breakfast went by, talking of school, and football and cheerleading, and singing and dancing, and this and that… And if pancakes and waffles loaded with syrup weren't enough sweets, they had to go for that free birthday ice cream at the arcade – tradition. Finally they went to get the movies. Picking wasn't without its difficulties, though it was in good fun, as they argued on genre, on actors… In the end, Mike had the right idea. She'd told him before how she had certain movies still on VHS and so worn, needing to be upgraded to DVD, and he had a fair idea which ones, three in particular: the Back to the Future trilogy. He said the word marathon and she was sold.

Walking back out of the mall, neither of them spoke much, but they didn't have to. Hand in hand, they could imagine what was going through the other's mind. One year ago they wouldn't have been able to even guess how far they'd go. But now here they were, boyfriend and girlfriend who loved one another and had said it aloud, so very supportive of one another either with various activities, helping to come out of their shells, with singing, dancing… Mike had embraced his love of performance, and Tina had become a Cheerio, something she'd never thought she could be, even kicked the habit of her fake stutter.

As good years went, it had been pretty outstanding. They knew that of all the things which came along throughout those months, it was their unity which gave it life, gave it vibrancy, gave them hope for the future. They were fifteen, but as far as they were concerned, somewhere inside them they knew exactly who they belonged to.

The party was like Mike versus the cousins, round two. They were still all over him, though Tina was on high alert for anyone who might try to 'go for the prize.' She would be glad when it was just them and their movie marathon in the basement. Mike could see her go about, and he just tried not to chuckle… too obviously. Every so often he'd pass by her, whisper 'recital' in her ear and she'd be laughing again.

Finally the house was cleared and they were gathering snacks, getting the popcorn ready. They started talking about summer, even if it was still some time away. Tina floated the idea of Mike coming with her family on vacation. He liked the idea, though he'd have to check with his parents. Plus it would be the perfect opportunity for him to run his idea by her.

Ryerson or no, that fall, they were joining Glee Club.

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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